Brevard students' invention wins them $96,000 scholarship

The winners of the 2019 Junior Achievement Blastoff Challenge were Gianna Forsythe and C.G. Goddard from Bayside High School, whose product was called Tray'Pron.(Photo: TIM SHORTT/ FLORIDA TODAY)

A team of students from Bayside High School won $96,000 in scholarship money at the Junior Achievement Blastoff Challenge Tuesday night.

Four teams from Brevard County high schools presented invention ideas to a group of judges at the Historic Cocoa Village Playhouse during the seventh annual Junior Achievement event. C.G. Goddard and Gianna Forsythe, juniors at Bayside High in Palm Bay, were named the winners.

They proposed to the judges "Tray'Pron," a tray-apron hybrid for sports fans to use at games. They showed a prototype of the product, a cardboard tray that includes a cupholder affixed to a plastic apron that goes around the user's head and covers the chest, resembling the contraption hotdog vendors wear as they walk through football stadiums.

"We wanted to stop people having to hold all their food in their hands" at sports games, Goddard said, as well as help customers prevent spilling on their favorite jerseys.

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Four final high school teams competed in the 2019 JA Be Entrepreneurial Business Blastoff Challenge
Tim Shortt, FLORIDA TODAY

The team plans to manufacture it out of recyclable and biodegradable materials and sell it at local high school football games. They would eventually want to patent their idea and expand to school districts across the state.

In a Shark Tank-esque pitch meeting, they presented an in-depth marketing and financial plan to the judges, as well as a commercial they produced. To produce the product, they said they would seek a $70,000 loan from investors in exchange for 10 percent of profits over the next five years. They projected making $52,000 in profits the first year.

The judges liked the simplicity of the product.

"I really like the idea of the product," said Milo Zonka, chief financial officer at the Brevard County Property Appraiser's Office. "There's something there. There definitely is."

Second place went to a team from Viera High School, Brendan Durante, Mackenzie Krassel, John Esposito, Cassie Bodi and C.J. Retto-Kane. They designed a vending machine, Sober Safe, for bars and nightclubs where customers can secure their keys to prevent drunken driving.

Third place went to a team from Bayside High, William Shearer, Hope Stork and Emma Sollars, who designed the Vital Band, a watch that helps deliver CPR by vibrating at the rate the CPR giver should be pumping the patient's chest and pausing when it's time to breathe into their mouth.

Honorable mention went to another team from Bayside High, Donny Burkhardt, Sean Artman and Tyson Stuart who designed a shower chair, Shower Warden, with Bluetooth and phone capabilities.

"It was very tough, very competitive." said Leslie Tibbetts, vice president of Bank of America. "But simple sells," she said in explaining who the judges chose as the winner.

The four teams were selected from a pool of 28.

The winning team received a $96,000 scholarship, paid for by the Florida Institute of Technology; $3,000 in scholarships from the Balda Family Foundation; a free consultation with a local attorney to help develop their idea; a branding consultation with digital marketing agency Rock Paper Simple; and a chance to show their idea at Groundswell Startups and meet with a venture capitalist.

"Woo! I've never held so many zeros," Goddard said after accepting the $96,000 check.

He said his team will look at the possibilities to manufacture and sell their invention.

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The judges for the 2019 Junior Achievement Blastoff Challenge were, from left to right, Jim Clamons, a retired vice president of engineering at Harris Corp.; Dan Balda, executive chairman of Medicomp and the Balda Family Foundation; Leslie Tibbetts, vice president of Bank of America; Mark Malek, CEO and managing partner of Widerman Malek law firm; and Milo Zonka, CFO of the Brevard County Property Appraiser's Office.(Photo: TIM SHORTT/ FLORIDA TODAY)

Caroline Glenn is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Glenn at 321-576-5933 or caglenn@floridatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter @bycarolineglenn and like Education at Florida Today on Facebook.